Wresting

Brian Masumoto doesn't expect anything on a silver platter. Masumoto, a wrestler at Fountain Valley High, has always believed hard work and perseverance will lead to good things. He found that out in the classroom and on the wrestling mat. Masumoto, 17, is ranked third in the county at 119 pounds.

The city of Ontario and San Bernardino County plan to establish a new governing body for L.A./Ontario International Airport - another step in the effort to wrest control of the struggling facility from Los Angeles. The Ontario City Council is expected to approve formation of the Ontario International Airport Authority on Tuesday, City Manager Chris Hughes said. San Bernardino County Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux said the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to follow suit a week later.

The trustee running bankrupt Newport Beach home builder Baldwin Co. has sued the firm's owners, brothers Alfred and James Baldwin, claiming they want to resurrect their development empire by wresting the rights to thousands of acres of valuable land from the business that bears their name. Bankruptcy trustee David Gould argues that the brothers are jeopardizing his efforts to nurse Baldwin Co. through a reorganization and repay more than $250 million in debts.

August 16, 2012 | By Andrea Chang and Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times

With more shoppers wielding smartphones instead of credit cards and cash to pay for purchases, some of the nation's largest retailers and restaurants are trying to wrest control of the fast-emerging mobile-payment industry away from technology firms. More than a dozen merchants, includingWal-Mart Stores Inc.,Target Corp.,Best Buy Co.andSears Holdings Corp., said Wednesday that they were teaming up to develop their own walletless platform, including an app, that will enable tech-savvy customers to quickly pay for goods with their smartphones.

Pakistani commandos dropped from helicopters Wednesday into an area behind Taliban lines about 80 miles from Islamabad, the capital, and regained control of a key town, the army said. But authorities faced a fresh challenge after militants seized a police station, holding dozens of officers hostage. Helicopters dropped troops before 8 a.m. near Daggar, the main town in the Buner district, the army said. The area has seen fighting between the military and Taliban forces for several days.

Jonathan Turley, who states that cross-burning, although an outrage, is a form of free speech, would do well to teach his constitutional law students about another amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Commentary, Sept. 2). That would be the 14th Amendment and its equal protection clause. When will certain "scholars" understand that hate speech is not free speech in that its intent and effect is to deny protection to many people in our society regarding housing, education, jobs, etc., through the use of terror and intimidation?

University had the Southern Section Division II tennis title in its grasp Wednesday, but North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake took it back, winning its third consecutive title by defeating the Trojans, 10-8, at UC Irvine. The second-seeded Trojans (19-4) led, 6-2, midway through the second round and held leads in two of the remaining singles sets, but the top-seeded Wolverines mounted a furious comeback, winning all three and breaking University's back. Junior David Frankel, Harvard-Westlake's No.

Brian Goebel, who bowls from the right side, is in the lead. Yet, as much a highlight on the first day of the $145,000 Kessler PBA tournament in Riverside Wednesday was the awakening of left-handers. No lefty has won in seven PBA events at Town Square Lanes. But Andy Neuer, a southpaw from Pennsylvania, averaged 233 for the six-game lead, though he later dropped to fourth. "I think there is hope for us here," Neuer said. "I never have bowled well on these lanes. But today was different.

State Sen. Art Torres began an uphill fight Thursday to wrest control of the troubled Victims of Crime program away from Gov. George Deukmejian and turn it over to Controller Gray Davis. The Los Angeles Democrat successfully completed his first move when he persuaded a Senate subcommittee Thursday to approve an amendment to Deukmejian's $44.3-billion budget that would transfer funding for the program to the controller's office midway through the next fiscal year.

In an unprecedented ruling, a judge Tuesday said that Dennis Conner and the San Diego Yacht Club, in winning the America's Cup sailing race last year, violated the spirit of fair competition called for in the rules. The judge stripped the San Diego club of the trophy and awarded it to New Zealand.

Loyola Marymount University is a proudly Roman Catholic institution that might be expected to take a special interest in the bitter debate over federal rules requiring contraceptives to be covered by health care plans at religiously affiliated organizations. No doubt, many members of the LMU community did follow the issue closely. But they had no practical stake in the outcome. Like many large Catholic employers in California and elsewhere, Loyola Marymount already provided birth control coverage to its employees, as required for the past 12 years under state law. It is too early to tell whether President Obama ended the debate over the contraceptive mandate Friday by announcing that the federal department of Health and Human Services would require insurance companies, not employers, to pay for the disputed coverage.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell operates with a steely resolve, a political discipline that leaves nothing to chance. A childhood bout with polio instilled in him an enormous capacity for patience. And for 25 years in Congress, the Kentucky Republican has waited for the moment now before him: the chance to become Senate majority leader. With four seats needed to flip the chamber, or three if a Republican is elected president (because the vice president could break a tie)

Pop station KIIS-FM (102.7) once again grabbed the top spot in Los Angeles-Orange County radio in April, and even widened its lead slightly, according to ratings released Monday by Arbitron. KIIS increased its average share of the listening audience age 6 and older, moving from 5.1% in March to 5.2% in April. And the station grew its average weekly audience from 3.898 million to 3.943 million, based on the survey of listeners between March 31 and April 27. Talk station KFI-AM (640)

It would be easy to see Tuesday's election results as a sign that momentum on mass-transit projects in Los Angeles and California is in danger of screeching to a halt. Republican gains in Congress spell obvious trouble for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 30/10 Initiative, which proposes squeezing 30 years of transit improvements into a single decade. California's plans for a high-speed rail line face similar anxieties after Rep. Nancy Pelosi lost her House speakership and the Democratic chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Minnesota's Jim Oberstar, was defeated.

Maybe the name "Sonny" gives you a clue. It's the nickname Hassan Astani chose from a favored singer, Sonny Bono, a scrappy underdog if ever there was one. Astani's dream downtown condo project, Concerto, has gone dissonant. The bank backing the project failed, the FDIC stepped in and the hedge fund Starwood Capital Group won the bidding on the bank's portfolio, including Astani's nearly finished $260-million project. Starwood now shares ownership with the feds, and Astani wants control of his project back.

Pakistani commandos dropped from helicopters Wednesday into an area behind Taliban lines about 80 miles from Islamabad, the capital, and regained control of a key town, the army said. But authorities faced a fresh challenge after militants seized a police station, holding dozens of officers hostage. Helicopters dropped troops before 8 a.m. near Daggar, the main town in the Buner district, the army said. The area has seen fighting between the military and Taliban forces for several days.

Spotlights play over a red curtain. The curtain is drawn, revealing a 10-man orchestra. The silver-haired conductor raises his arms, and with a wave of a plumber's helper . . . . A plumber's helper? "With these guys, anything goes," said Eric Hoffman, an assistant to the Phunharmonic Orchestra, which took over the stage of the Van Nuys High School Auditorium Saturday night for a benefit concert. The leader of the band, Joe Siracusa, described the music his group creates as "organized chaos."

The BlackBerry, a phone and e-mail device that just a few years ago could be found mostly clipped to the belts of high-powered professionals, isn't just for workaholics anymore. Research in Motion Ltd. today is launching its first major counterattack at the iPhone: the BlackBerry Storm, a touch-screen device that enables users to take pictures, play movies and music, and visit their Facebook and MySpace pages with ease. It even tells them where to turn when they're lost in their cars.

Drugstore giant Walgreen Co. launched a surprise, $3-billion bid Friday night for Longs Drug Stores Corp., hoping a $75-per-share offer is enough to take the West Coast chain away from CVS Caremark Corp. Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen said in a statement that buying Longs would strengthen its presence in fast-growing markets and broaden its exposure in the "highly attractive" Hawaii market. "We believe the combination of Walgreens and Longs is a highly compelling transaction that is superior to the pending transaction with CVS Caremark, accelerates Walgreen's expansion into high-growth markets and delivers meaningful cost synergies," Walgreen Chief Executive Jeffrey Rein said in a statement.